Partial removal of Saudi-led blockade of Yemen not enough: UN, EU

A United Nations official says the re-opening of the port city of Aden and a land border crossing for dispatching humanitarian aid to Yemen is not enough as the Saudi-led coalition is still blocking desperately-needed UN aid deliveries to the impoverished country.

"Humanitarian movements into Yemen remain blocked," Russell Geekie, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA), said on Friday.

"The reopening of the port in Aden is not enough. We need to see the blockade of all the ports lifted, especially Hudaydah, for both humanitarians and for commercial imports,” he added.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced that it was shutting down Yemen’s air, sea, and land borders, after Yemeni fighters targeted an international airport near the Saudi capital.

UN aid chief Mark Lowcock told the Security Council on Wednesday that unless the blockade is lifted, Yemen will face "the largest famine the world has seen for many decades, with millions of victims."

In the same context, the European Union has said that Saudi Arabia’s slight easing of its blockade on Yemen is not enough to stop the country from plunging into famine, urging further measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.